East Nusa Tenggara

As Indonesia has been experiencing impressive economic advancement and emerging as an upper-middle income country, it has also recorded important progress in enhancing food security and nutrition. Access to food increased and undernutrition continued to decrease over the last few years. However, the nutritional status of Indonesians is still low by international standards, and the variation across regions remains huge.

Villages’ obligation to formulate the village medium-term development plan (RPJM Desa) should not be a mere legal formality. RPJM Desa substantially needs to be drafted, as it is

According to Law No. 6/2014 on Villages, every village has to make the village medium-term development plan (RPJM Desa). RPJM Desa essentially serves as a reference for the village government’s annual work plan and is the manifestation of the village’s being a self-governing community in determining the direction and objectives of its development. However, villages are still facing some issues in implementing RPJM Desa.

The Village Cash for Work (PKT) policy, initiated in 2018 to overcome poverty, unemployment, and malnutrition in villages, has resulted in some problems. This has something to do with some provisions in the technical guidelines of PKT which (i) cause budget inefficiency, (ii) pose the risk of lowering the work output quality, and (iii) is not equipped with clear reference criteria to determine PKT beneficiaries.